NATO-member Turkey has refused to disclose who it was, who told them to take the insane step of forcing down a Syrian passenger airliner transiting from Russia on Wednesday, Oct. 10, but it could only have been Obama,— or his puppetmasters of the British Royal Family. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland told press yesterday that the Administration was in "strong support" of that outrage.

Further, the Turkish daily Sabah reported today that Turkey has asked NATO to redirect its ABM radar at Kurecik, Turkey, to Syria. Also today, Turkey scrambled two fighter jets to the Syrian border, after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly bombed the Syrian border town of Azmarin, Reuters reported.

Turkish tank forces at the border have been reinforced by 60 additional tanks to a total of at least 250 tanks, and by an additional 25 F-16 jet fighters, Voice of Russia and RIA report today from the Turkish daily Hürriyet.

In Moscow, the Syrian Ambassador went to the Russian Foreign Ministry Friday, while President Vladimir Putin summoned "an urgent session" of the Russian Security Council Friday afternoon, on "topical social and economic issues and global affairs with a focus on Syria." On leaving that meeting, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists, "We have no secrets. There were, of course, no weapons on board and there could not have been." Lavrov also stressed that the cargo of radar equipment was "entirely legal" and that Russia would demand both the return of the equipment and an explanation from Turkey, according to the Russian Information Agency RIA.

Highly alarmed at the prospect of war, and rightly so, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said today that he has hastily scheduled a visit to NATO partner Turkey. "The Syria situation has escalated. That fills us with the greatest concern," he said. "It is important that no one pours oil on the fire. We are counting on moderation and de-escalation."

"It is important that no one succumb to provocation, and that we continue working on a new democratic start in Syria," he said. "I want to hear for myself what was behind the forced landing of the aircraft and the confiscation of goods from the plane in Turkey," Naharnet reported.

Meanwhile, Turkey's chief EU negotiator, Minister Egemen Baris, recently said, "Turkey's military power is enough to wipe out Syria in a couple of hours." Parliamentarian Samil Tayyar, of Turkey's ruling AKP party, said on television yesterday that "If Turkey wants, it can reach Damascus in three hours," Sabah reported, as translated in www.al-monitor.com.